The apartment where an El Paso man was allegedly killed by his friend was a bloody mess, according to his neighbors who testified Monday during the first day of a murder trial.

Michael Manuel Herrera, 29, is accused of violently beating and killing his friend Cesar Torres, 39, on July 6, 2009. Torres was found dead in his Downtown apartment in the 500 block of Missouri Avenue.

Herrera's trial is being held in the 168th District Court in front of Judge Marcos Lizarraga.

Robert Scott Greene was the first person to enter Torres' apartment and found him dead on the floor.

"I saw Cesar laying on the ground between the love seat, the coffee table and the entrance to the kitchen," Greene said in court. "He was wrapped in a white blanket with black dried blood on the floor."

According to a police arrest affidavit, Herrera beat Torres and stabbed him on the right side of his body. The autopsy said Torres' death was caused by blunt force trauma, but he also had several injuries including cuts over both eyes, broken ribs, a broken nose, ruptured liver and a wrenched neck.

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Gladys Gonzalez, another neighbor and friend of Torres, testified that she saw Herrera and another man waiting outside Torres' apartment the day before he was killed.

"I saw him the day before he killed my friend," Gonzalez angrily said.

The next day, she asked Greene to go inside the apartment because she had not seen Torres and the same music had been playing for over a day.

"I just heard music," Gonzalez said. "I knocked on the door but I did not open it. I was scared."

The door was unlocked and Greene went inside. He said Torres looked like he had been dead for a while, and the body was cold.

"He was gray and he was naked," Greene said. "There was lots of blood. Just lots of blood."

Police found a fingerprint in the apartment that belonged to Herrera, the affidavit said. Herrera was later arrested at a homeless shelter.

In a brief interview with Channel 26-KINT after his arrest, Herrera said, "I did what I had to do. I loved my boyfriend a lot," apparently referring to the victim.

During cross-examination, public defender Eric Willard asked both Greene and Gonzalez about Torres' drinking habits.

"You had told him in the past that he needed to slow down?" Willard asked Gonzalez, who said yes.

"Because you thought he was drinking too much?" Willard asked.

"What are you trying to get with this?" Gonzalez asked back before being instructed by Lizarraga to answer the question.

Willard also asked about fights Torres had with previous boyfriends and if Gonzalez was worried about the homeless men that Torres would let stay with him.

"It had been going on for a while, huh?" Willard asked, and Gonzalez answered yes.

The trial is expected to continue today. Assistant District Attorneys Rebecca Tarango and Melissa Warrick are prosecuting the case.

Aaron Bracamontes may be reached at abracamontes@elpasotimes.com; 546-6156.